Profound reform – interview with Hryhorii Vanzuryak

The first written record of Hlyboka village, the rayon centre of the Chernivtsi Oblast, dates back to 1438. At that time a Moldavian host Illya I presented the settlement to the court judge Petro Hudym. Since then, the village has changed its authorities many times. For several centuries, it was ruled by Turkey, and was subsequently transferred to the power of Austria. In 1918, Hlyboka was occupied by Romania, and in 1940 – by the Soviet Union. A year later the Germans came here, and in three years the Soviet government returned. All these twists and turns have created a unique cultural environment. Hryhorii Vanzuryak, the head of the Hlybotska AH, says that it is difficult for him to determine his own nationality by origin.

- According to one line, my ancestors are Poles, according to the other – Romanians, and there are Ukrainians in both lines, Germans and Jews lived next to us," he says. “Since childhood people here speak not only Ukrainian, but also Romanian, Polish, and German. It makes it easy to find a common language with any national minorities.”

Nevertheless, the neighboring Romanian village Dymka, that is located very close to Hlyboka and was the part of the Hlybotska rural settlement council from 1959 to 1992, refused to amalgamate with Hlyboka. This is exactly what we started our conversation from.

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